Tag Archives: press

Guardian Photographer Sarah Lee’s Exhibition

A visitor at the photography exhibition by Sarah Lee of The Guardian. Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1. August 17, 2016. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

I attended the opening of Sarah Lee‘s wonderful photography exhibition last night at The Guardian. It’s a wonderful collection of some of the very best in newspaper portraiture and feature photography and I highly recommend a visit.

A portrait of Sarah Lee of The Guardian at her exhibition’s private view. Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1. August 17, 2016. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

Sarah adds, “I have Fiona Shields and Luke Dodd to thank for getting the idea off the ground, and David McCoy has printed it beautifully. They’ve done such a good job it would be lovely if you happen to be free and felt like popping along.”

An image by Australian photographer Warren Richardson is the World Press Photo of the Year

When I logged on to the World Press Photo website and saw the the winning image, I found myself uncontrollably saying “wow” out loud. It’s an amazingly powerful image, highlighting an extremely important issue, photographed with such skill and empathy. Many congratulations to Warren Richardson for his stunning image and for the judges in choosing it out of the submitted 82,951 photographs.

Richardson is a freelance photographer, currently based in Budapest, Hungary. He explained how the picture was made:

“I camped with the refugees for five days on the border. A group of about 200 people arrived, and they moved under the trees along the fence line. They sent women and children, then fathers and elderly men first. I must have been with this crew for about five hours and we played cat and mouse with the police the whole night. I was exhausted by the time I took the picture. It was around three o’clock in the morning and you can’t use a flash while the police are trying to find these people, because I would just give them away. So I had to use the moonlight alone”.

View the entire collection of winning images from the 59th World Press Photo Contest. They were selected from 82,951 photos made by 5,775 photographers from 128 different countries.

For any photographers wondering about the technical aspects of the winning image; the shot was made on a Canon 5D MkII using a Canon 24mm f1.4L lens at 6400ISO, f1.4 with a shutter speed of 1/5 of a second.

Here are a selection of my favourite images from the contest

(in no particular order):

— AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2015 — A Syrian man carries the body of a child killed in a reported air strike by government forces in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, on November 7, 2015. AFP PHOTO / ABD DOUMANY === GRAPHIC CONTENT ===

A wounded Syrian girl cries at a make-shift hospital in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, following reported air strikes by regime forces, on August 12, 2015. At least 27 civilians were killed in Syrian government air strikes on the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus according to a monitoring group. AFP PHOTO / ABD DOUMANY

— AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2015 — A wounded Syrian girl looks on at a make shift hospital in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, following shelling and air raids by Syrian government forces on August 22, 2015. At least 20 civilians and wounded or trapped 200 in Douma, a monitoring group said, just six days after regime air strikes killed more than 100 people and sparked international condemnation of one of the bloodiest government attacks in Syria’s war. AFP PHOTO / ABD DOUMANY

Adam Abdel, age 7, was badly burned when a bomb, dropped on February 12 by a Sudanese government’s Antonov plane, landed next to his family’s home in Burgu, Central Darfur, Sudan, February 27, 2015.

Whale Whisperers. Divers observe and surround a humpback whale and her newborn calf whilst they swim around Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico, 28 January 2015. Anuar Patjane Floriuk

A Syrian child fleeing the war is lifted over border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akcakale in Sanliurfa province on June 14, 2015. Turkey said it was taking measures to limit the flow of Syrian refugees onto its territory after an influx of thousands more over the last days due to fighting between Kurds and jihadists. Under an “open-door” policy, Turkey has taken in 1.8 million Syrian refugees since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC / AFP / BULENT KILIC

4—Gumda, Nepal. Friday, May 08, 2015: Bishnu Gurung (3L) weeps as the body of her daughter, Rejina Gurung, 3, (unseen), is recovered from the rubble of her earthquake destroyed home, on May 8, 2015 in the village of Gumda, Nepal. Neighbors discovered the body of the small girl in the collapsed entrance of the Gurung family home, ending a 13 day search for Rejina in the remote mountainous village of Gumda in Gorkha district. On the 25th of April, just before noon local time, as farmers were out in fields and people at home or work, a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, killing over 8,000 people and injuring more than 21,000 according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Homes, buildings and temples in Kathmandu were destroyed in the 7.8 magnitude quake, which left over 2.8 million people homeless, but it was the mountainous districts away from the capital that were the hardest hit. Villagers pulled the bodies of their loved ones from the rubble by hand and the wails of grieving families echoed through the mountains, as mothers were left to bury their own children. Over the following weeks and months, villagers picked through ruins desperate to recover whatever personal possessions they could find and salvage any building materials that could be reused. Despite relief teams arriving from all over the world in the days after the quake hit, thousands of residents living in remote hillside villages were left to fend for themselves, as rescuers struggled to reach all those affected. Multiple aftershocks, widespread damage and fear kept tourists away from the country known for its searing Himalayan peaks, damaging a vital climbing and trekking industry and compounding the recovery effort in the face of a disaster from which the people of Nepal continue to battle to recover.

8—Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, April 28, 2015: Flames rise from burning funeral pyres during the cremation of earthquake victims, at the Pashupatinath temple on the banks of Bagmati river on April 28, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. On the 25th of April, just before noon local time, as farmers were out in fields and people at home or work, a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, killing over 8,000 people and injuring more than 21,000 according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Homes, buildings and temples in Kathmandu were destroyed in the 7.8 magnitude quake, which left over 2.8 million people homeless, but it was the mountainous districts away from the capital that were the hardest hit. Villagers pulled the bodies of their loved ones from the rubble by hand and the wails of grieving families echoed through the mountains, as mothers were left to bury their own children. Over the following weeks and months, villagers picked through ruins desperate to recover whatever personal possessions they could find and salvage any building materials that could be reused. Despite relief teams arriving from all over the world in the days after the quake hit, thousands of residents living in remote hillside villages were left to fend for themselves, as rescuers struggled to reach all those affected. Multiple aftershocks, widespread damage and fear kept tourists away from the country known for its searing Himalayan peaks, damaging a vital climbing and trekking industry and compounding the recovery effort in the face of a disaster from which the people of Nepal continue to battle to recover.

A ‘Maya’ girl sits in an altar during the traditional celebration of ‘Las Mayas’ on the streets of the small village of Colmenar Viejo, near Madrid, Spain Saturday, May 2, 2015. The festivity of ‘Las Mayas’ comes from pagan rites and dates from at least the medieval age, appearing in ancient documents. It takes place every year in the beginning of May and celebrates the arrival of the spring. A girl between 7 and 11years is chosen as ‘Maya’ and should sit still, serious, and quiet for a couple of hours in an altar on the street decorated with flowers and plants, afterwards they walk to the church with their family where they attend a ceremony. Not more than four, or five girls are chosen as a Maya each year.

North Korean children perform at the Pyongyang Kyongsang Kindergarten. Photo by David Guttenfelder

After spending two days and two nights sailing on the Mediterranean Sea on the deck of the M.S.F. (Médecins Sans Frontières – Doctors Without Borders) search and rescue ship Bourbon Argos, rescued migrants – still wrapped in their emergency blankets – catch sight of the Italian coast for the first time soon after dawn. 23 August 2015 In 2015 the ever-increasing number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea on unseaworthy vessels towards Europe led to an unprecedented crisis. Nearly 120 thousand people have reached Italy in the first 8 months of the year. While the European governments struggled to deal with the influx, the death toll in the Mediterranean reached record numbers. Early in May the international medical relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières (M.S.F.) joined in the search and rescue operations led in the Mediterranean Sea and launched three ships at different stages: the Phoenix (run by the Migrant Offshore Aid Station), the Bourbon Argos and Dignity.

Ron Baker (31) shoots over Nick Zeisloft (2) as Hanner Mosquera-Perea (12) and Rashard Kelly (0) battle for position under basket at the NCAA 2015 Mens Basketball Tournament game with Wichita State vs. Indiana at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, USA on March 20th of 2015. Greg Nelson executed this photograph without posing any of the subjects.

Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China. Photo: Kevin Frayer

Runaway talibes stand on the bank of Senegal river, in Saint Louis city, north of Senegal, May 20, 2015. Saint Louis is known as Talibe city. A city with small proportions compared to Dakar but with a large number of Talibes. Due to that many of them choose the streets instead of Daaras.

Homeless veteran Darlene Matthews has been living in her car for over two years while she waits for a housing voucher from the VA. She joined the US Army in 1976 and was sent to Fort McLellan, Alabama. “I was going to join this all women’s army and there would be no sexual problems but I joined and there were sexual problems.” She was beyond horrified when she discovered that it wasn’t a safe place and instead full of “illegal punishments and all this sexual stuff. The whole atmosphere was abusive.” Her life spiraled down after she got out of the military and found herself very depressed. She joined the military to escape a chaotic abusive home life and was forced back into it when she was discharged. She has been fighting with the VA for benefits including housing vouchers but has been living in her car in the parking lot of a mortuary next to a graveyard. “It’s like being in a fun house and every door gets slammed in your face every time you try to leave. I feel like giving up sometimes, and nobody would care.”

1. Tapajós River, Itaituba, Pará State, Brazil, on February 10, 2015. Indigenous children jump into the water as they play around the Tapajós river, in the Munduruku tribal area called Sawré Muybu.

Howie calls these “his and hers” chairs. He sits beside Laurel, his wife of thirty-four years, as they get their weekly chemotherapy treatments, side by side at Oncologist Dr. Barry Boyd’s office. Greenwich, Connecticut. January, 2013.

Sunbather oblivious to the ominous shelf cloud approaching – on Bondi beach. A massive “cloud tsunami” looms over Sydney in a spectacular weather event seen only a few times a year. The enormous shelf cloud rolled in from the sea, turning the sky almost black and bringing violent thunderstorms in its wake.

Colima Volcano in Mexico shows a powerful night explosion with lightning, ballystics and some incandescent rockfalls. Photo taken on dec. 13 at 22:24 hours, 12.5 km away from the crater near a lagoon named Carrizalillos on Comala municipality in the state of Colima. Colima Volcano had a period of enormous activity on july of 2015, at least 700 inhabitants were evacuated from their settlements. The volcano mantains activity with 3 to 6 explosions by day. Lightning on Colima Volcano explosions became common on last months. This particular lightning is more than 600 meters long, so the big light made clear some details of the south portion of volcano. It’s an 8 seconds shot, time enough to catch the explosion and the lightning. Photo: Sergio Velasco

Vetluga’s Hockey. Evgeny Solovyov, head coach of HC Vetluga preparing the stadium for the match. Players of an amateur hockey team in provincial Russia before, during and after a game in the regional championship in Vetluga, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Photo: Vladimir Pesnya

A city in northern China shrouded in haze, Tianjin, China. Photo: Zhang Lei

Raheleh, who was born blind, stands behind the window in the morning. She likes the warmness of the sunlight on her face. Photo: Zohreh Saberi

All photographs are copyright. Used with the permission of World Press Photo.

The Napalm Girl By Nick Ut

In my opinion, AP photographer Nick Ut‘s Pulitzer Prize winning photograph from the Vietnam War, commonly known as the “Napalm Girl” is the most iconic and most powerful photograph ever taken.

In this June 8, 1972 file photo, crying children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, run down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places as South Vietnamese forces from the 25th Division walk behind them. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. From left, the children are Phan Thanh Tam, younger brother of Kim Phuc, who lost an eye, Phan Thanh Phouc, youngest brother of Kim Phuc, Kim Phuc, and Kim’s cousins Ho Van Bon, and Ho Thi Ting. AP Photo/Nick Ut

Here’s a superb ABC7 Special about the image, the stories and people involved. It’s well worth watching. Powerful, moving, interesting.

Fascinatingly, this TV documentary also clearly shows the power of photography compared to TV footage. Nick Ut’s photograph has such power and depth, compared to the TV footage which whilst strong, has no where near the strength of the still image. Anyone who doesn’t understand the power of a photograph needs to be shown this documentary.

50 Press Photographs at “The Fleet Street Press” Coffee and Tea House

Fleet Street is synonymous with British Newspapers – the “press”. Even though the last newspaper left the street over 20 years ago, the industry is still referred to as “Fleet Street” and as such, the street has a special symbolism for press photographers and journalists alike.

The exhibition is a collection of work from press photographers working for the national papers, international wire agencies and local papers around the country. It’s an insight into the world of press photography, covering wars, politics, features, portraits, disasters, press conferences and sports.

Images that are hard hitting, thought provoking or quirky; you’ll find the full gamut. We are not the paparazzi and as such, you won’t find any of that genre of image here. We are where the news is; we find the truth, we witness history and we are the eyes of the British public who rely on us to bring the news.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Monday, April 22nd, 2013 and is going to be a long term, evolving exhibition of work by press photographers. The images on display will be for sale. Each of the 50 photos is 40cmx30cm (A3’ish, including border) and printed on fibre based Baryta paper. Each sale will be printed to order and posted to the buyer within 7-10 working days. Each image is £150 and will be embossed with the Fleet Street Photograph logo. It’s a great opportunity to buy some great images at a great price.

Venue Details

“The Fleet Street Press” Coffee and Tea House, 3 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1AU, London. Opening times are 6.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. 10am to 5pm on Saturdays and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. You can follow The Fleet Street Press on Twitter and on their FaceBook page.

Raising Awareness To The Growing Number Of Journalists Killed & Injured In Armed Conflict Zones

Imagine a day without news; imagine not knowing what’s happening around the world. Conflicts taking place uncovered; perpetrators’ acts of violence going unchecked or the civilian casualties not given a voice.

Journalists, be they writers or photographers, have always put their lives at risk by going to cover wars; to tell the stories and share the pictures. Over recent years, journalists have become legitimate targets in the minds of combatants and in some cases are actively targeted.

Recent years have seen the deaths of far too many amazing people; dedicated to the truth and upholding humanity by covering acts of inhumanity. 2012 was the deadliest year for journalism with a 33% increase in deaths, resulting in 90 colleagues losing their life.

On April 20, 2011, photojournalist Tim Hetherington was killed whilst working in Misrata, Libya, covering the events of the bloody conflict. British photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington photographed on the last day of ‘Operation Rock Avalanche’ on October 25, 2007 at the Korengal Valley, East Afghanistan. Photo: Balazs Gardi

On April 20, 2011, photojournalist Chris Hondros was killed whilst working in Misrata, Libya, covering the events of the bloody conflict.

February 22, 2012, legendary correspondent Marie Colvin was killed in Homs, Syria. Evidence from eye witnesses, including London Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy who was working with Marie, said that they had been deliberately targeted.

February 22, 2012, photojournalist Remi Ochlik was killed in Homs, Syria. Evidence from eye witnesses, including London Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy who was working with Marie, said that they had been deliberately targeted.

Support

I’m supporting the work of colleagues in spreading the word and campaigning world leaders to bring attention to these injustices and develop laws to try and safeguard journalism; visit the website, A DAY WITHOUT NEWS and do the same. Lastly, please spread the word using your social media.

Print Auction In Aid Of Great Ormond Street Hospital

On the 11th of October a group of press photographers got together to help out their friends and colleagues when it was found their two year old daughter Yasmin had been diagnosed with Leukaemia.

Karen and Andrew Parsons have set up a blog, Our Life With Leukaemia, sharing the pain of finding out their daughter is ill and charting the voyage the family has been put on. They also started a Just Giving page to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) where little Yasmin is being treated.

Kelvin Bruce and Richard Chambury show a set of images by Brian Rasic. Yasmin’s Print Auction, Thursday October 11, 2012 Photo by Andrew Parsons / i-Images

Photographers Eddie Mulholland and Kelvin Bruce had the idea of organising a print auction to help raise funds for GOSH. Photographers donated prints and images to be auctioned, the majority being printed by Alex McNaughton on Epson equipment.

There were many notable images donated for this auction, with the highlight being a signed and stamped print of a dust storm in Lesotho by Ian Berry from Magnum Photos.

A raffle was also organised and huge thanks go to all who generously donated prizes for this. Cameras were donated by Fuji, Leica, Nikon and Olympus and Calumet donated accessories and sensor clean prizes. The raffle alone raised £1350.00 for GOSH.